One Sided
by fireintheclocke
Summary: a rewrite of this ridiculously long thing I've been writing since forever. Gluhen timeline. Ken/Ran. It eats my brains.
1. Homecoming

note: This is dedicated to my girlfriend, who without I never would have gotten a copy of Gluhen. She is also the owner of the computer this fic was written on. So please, read, enjoy and don't throw rocks at me.

I was tired. I was so, so tired. Oh man, that night? I was practically stumbling down the halls, hoping I could just fall into the right room find whoever the hell I was supposed to kill, whatever the hell it was I was supposed to blow up, whichever it was I was supposed to steal data from and be done with it. Did life work like that? Does it ever? I made it to that central computer room, and it was filled with stupid men and women in uniforms. And I had to kill them. That was my job. So kill them I did. I almost felt bad, but I was busy being tired. I was busy thinking of the warm arms and warm bed that should be waiting for me back home. I was thinking of a big maroon braid and an ugly necklace. And then something exploded outside and I realized that Yohji was doing his job, and I wasn't and plugged my handheld computer into their mainframe ad stole there data. Whatever the hell that Epitaph thing was, this information should help us kill it. Or whatever. I was too fucking tired to even care. My job was almost done. My computer beeped and I unplugged it, I was getting ready to leave when a door opened. I admit, I was too damn curious for my own good. I had to, HAD TO investigate. And I found more dead bodies. How pleasant. After A few minutes of poking the dead bodies with my toe, and the unshakable feeling that I was being watched I booked it out of there. Yohji had to blow this place up, I did not want to be part of that explosion. Dying was not part of the mission.

I met up with Yohji a good distance from that building. He was covered in blood and shaking a little. He wouldn't look at me, and when he pressed the button to set off the final charges, he closed his eyes. And wouldn't open them. I hugged him, we stood in the surrounding forested area with a building burn and popping in the background for a long time. Just being quiet and being thankful that momentarily, we were alive. Mission complete. He opened his eyes and shook me off, we looked at each other and he wrapped a companionable arm around my shoulder.

"Come on Kenken, we'd best get you back to the esteemed History Professor before he thinks I've stolen you away." I punched him once, affectionately, in the shoulder and the two of us staggered off to our assigned transportation.

I woke upon an unfamiliar airplane twelve hours later. I wasn't tied up, and I could see Yohji flirting with a hostess, so it was safe. I just didn't know where I was or how I'd gotten there. Yohji seemed to notice my bleary blinking at my surroundings.

"Oh! Sleeping beauty is awake. You really passed out back there, I had to drag out onto the plane. Security was not too pleased, but we both had boarding passes and passports. And you answered all the questions right when they roused you. For all of thirty seconds." He smiled at me, I batted lightly at him. "But you're awake now, and we're almost home." I felt my face smile for me, I was so elated. I had survived and I was going home. "And little Mamoru wants to talk to us when we get there."

Shit. That meant another mission. Just after finishing one. And I had formed all these plans about bringing lunch and sneaking into the school. Stupid Omi.

I settled back into my seat and closed my eyes. We weren't home yet.

Getting home is always fun. Get a ride home from the airport, dump my stuff in whichever room I've claimed for myself this week and go find Aya. He was in the basement with Rex and The New Kid. I stumbled down the stairs, with the logic of "I can be quiet when I need to be and I don't need to be right now" firm in my mind. He turned to look at me from his position on the couch, the New Kid, who was sitting next to him, also turned. Aya gave me the biggest and most sincere smile I had seen in a month. He didn't say anything, I didn't say anything. He stood, and I just moved my ass. I was wrapped in his arms in a heartbeat, he face in my hair, mine in the nape of his neck, breathing each other in. Trying to express how glad we were that the other was still alive and that the last time we'd seen each other was not the last time. I loosened my clinging grip, and he loosened his, I took half a step back and reached up and pulled his face down to mine and kissed him. The New Kid might have gasped. When we parted, he was still gawking anyway. You'd think he'd never seen a couple of people kiss. The innocents we're hiring these days.

"Are the love birds quite finished their sappy reunion?" Yohji called from up the stairs. "I wouldn't want to ruin any deep emotional moments with my gorgeous and wonderful self."

"Not to mention your humble and modest self." Aya grumbled fondly in my ear, I chuckled and pushed him back onto the couch, taking a seat in an armchair. The New Kid edged away from Aya, like he thought Aya was going to attack. He looked at me, he looked at Aya. He looked away. So that was the problem. I shook my head slightly.

"Yeah, you can come down now Yohji," I called, "We're all waiting to be graced with your presence." At this, he rushes silently, gracefully, bonelessly down the stairs, arms spread wide, like he was flying. He made to hug Rex, but she moved out of the way. Yohji has cooties. So I hugged him. And he ruffled my hair. And it was like 14 ours ago we hadn't blown up a building. It was like we were normal.

My stomach ruined this by growling. We may not be normal but I am human. And I hadn't eaten in a day or two. The New Kid shot up, and made for the kitchenette in the back like his tail end was on fire. No one said anything. Yohji took his spot, sprawling onto the couch and spreading out like a stain. He made it fairly clear he planned on spreading over the whole couch. Aya sighed and stood, pushing me into the path of Yohji on the couch and going to lean against the convenient pillar we had had installed so people could lurk around it. I snickered.

"So how's the baby?" I asked, Rex raised an eyebrow. She had yet to fully grip the difference between us talking in code and us talking in crazy in-jokes and slang. The baby, in the case referred to Omi, or, Persia, as he was calling himself, and as we were calling him now. When they had first met Omi, millions of years ago, or so it seemed he had been a kid. And I had taken onto myself to give little Omi as normal a child-and-teenage-hood as I could. That meant helping him with homework, going to PTA meetings and leaving cookies for Santa. Yes, it had probably looked kind of funny when I dragged Aya and Yohji to the first PTA meeting of Omi's high school, but eventually Yohji stopped coming and it was just Aya and I. We were accepted Omi's guardians so far as the PTA was concerned. Ignoring little things like me not being more that 6 years older than Omi, at the most. Really, I was two. But I can bluff.

Omi was the baby. And Omi was our boss. But Aya and I were professionals, and we knew when it was appropriate to listen and obey Omi, and when it was appropriate to baby him into insanity. It had been a listen and obey situation for a long time. I was getting tired of the constant air of seriousness and regret that lingered over everything.

"Omi is fine. He's been telling us what to do on a regular basis." I turned to look at him, his eyes were narrowed, I could tell by the way his forehead creased just slightly that he was thinking of something that did not make him happy. "I... I really don't know what he's been up to, or how he really is. I.." Aya trailed off, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the pillar. That was my cue, I jumped over the back of the couch and hugged him, just holding him and being quiet. In the background Yohji asked Rex what had been going on since we left. She related the story as best she could. That Guy, Kyo had died, The New Kid had killed the assistant director of Kowa Academy, who had turned out to be his uncle. Aya's cover hadn't been entirely blown. Yet. She also informed us of the details of the mission we were to be assigned tonight that would be covered in the brief overview Persia would give us. We were to go under cover too. Yohji was to be an art teacher, I was to be a college student. I was only half listening, I was distracted. I had Aya to pay attention to, he was clinging to me. He was worried. He did that, it was adorable, but sometimes it just brought him minor emotional trauma. But I wouldn't have him any other way, really. Besides, my ability to soothe ruffled feathers is part of my charm. I raised one of my hands to cup his cheek and we look at each other. He opens his mouth, as if to say something, but is interrupted by the reappearance of The New Kid. The New Kid has a small fruit plate. I was torn, the New Kid had food, but I had Aya. My stomach made the decision for me. In the form of one long, almost painful growl. Aya smirked, turned me around and gave me a little push towards the New Kid. I chuckled, and approached him, stealing four pieces of cantaloupe and a strawberry, I returned to Aya, generously giving him the strawberry and went to the couch to consume my melon. Yohji raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. The New Kid warily approached him and he took some fruit too. My cantaloupe was gone. It never stood a chance. I sighed, temporarily satisfied. The New Kid put the fruit plate down near Rex and went to find somewhere to sit. Now all we had to do was wait for Persia.

The wait, it turned out, wasn't too long. The screen flickered and Persia's shadowed form came into focus. His ridiculously distorted voice gave us our orders. Aya was to cease his performance so as not to blow his cover. And the New Kid.. the New Kid, who had screwed up so spectacularly, who had KILLED the assistant director of his school, was given a weapon. I wasn't too happy. I was very not happy. But Aya, ever the logical being shut me up. It was a listen and obey time. Damnit. I hated this job. I idly wondered if I could retire. Or if I would just have to die to get out of this job. Shaking my head slightly, because my train of though had actually reached a point of being too morose. I stood and walked to Aya, I reached and took his hand.

"Come on," I said, pulling him slightly. "I miss you. Let's go to bed."

He nodded and we set off upstairs. Heading home.


	2. Dinner, Drama

note: Just like last time, this is ddicated to my girlfriend, who is not a hobo-arts-student and bought me Gluhen for christmas many moons ago.

He locked the door behind me. We hadn't seen each other for months, but My Aya is too anal to not lock the door. And it must be locked thoroughly, this is security at stake. In his defense he had me pinned against the door as soon as the deadbolt was turned. Our lips met, our teeth clinked together, his hand was in my hair... the teeth thing might have been a distraction if we weren't so busy. Because, seriously? He thought I was dead, Yohji and I were two weeks late. He was reaffirming I was alive, comfortable sensations, uncomfortable sensations; they were all there to prove that I was still breathing and this wasn't some kind of elaborate hallucination. So he was proving it to himself. With his tongue.

"Aya, sweetheart," He wriggled a hand up the back of my shirt, and grunted. "Can we not do this on the door?" He grunted again, sinking his teeth into my shoulder. Punishment for interrupting I suppose. Totally worth it. It's not punishment if you like it. "There's the alcove. The kitchen. The bedroom. The spare room."

"Nnng." He let go of my shoulder and rested his head on mine. "Spare room's not so spare anymore."

"What do you mean 'not so spare'?"

"Sena's staying with us." I took his hand into mine, and pulled him to the table, and sat on it. I gave him a look. "What?"

"The New Kid? I can't stand the New Kid, he-"

"Ken," I shut up, "He needed somewhere to stay. Kyo lives in a closet somewhere; Yohji was out of town, with you, Rex lives in a car or something. We had the space." He kissed me. Damn his powerful powers of distraction.

"Alright," I pulled him towards me. "But only because I love you. Or at least tolerate you."

"I tolerate you too." I tugged on his braid; he smiled, and kissed me again, leaning into me. I wrapped my legs around his waist; because it was there, and combined my limbs are more powerful together than separate. The table made a strange noise and Aya stood, taking me with him just as the table fell away. It collapsed with a mighty crash. But Aya was carrying me. And that was very sweet.

"We need to go to Ikea or something. Get a sturdier table." I said against his neck, he might have chuckled, and adjusted my weight a bit to keep us both upright. "I think we need some place to land. Couch?"

"Couch." He agreed, and to the couch he carried me. He dumped me unceremoniously onto said couch and slinked atop me.

And then the door slammed open. And slammed closed. Aya raised his head and smiled in a way that was probably supposed to be friendly.

"Hello Sena."

Fucking New Kid.

Killing the moment.

"Hi Aya," Yep, that was the New Kid, I groaned to myself. He leaned against the door and tried not to look uncomfortable. And failed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Aya sat up, and I was forced to squirm into a decent conversation having position. Damn New Kid. He stayed at the door, arms crossed.

"That you-! That he-! That- damnit Aya. You know what I'm talking about." Aya didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. This was painful. "Why didn't you mention this? You could've- you should've- I wouldn't have -!"

There was a moment of silence where he stood looking angry and shaking his fists at noone and nothing in particular.

"What is your problem?" I exploded, springing off the couch and over to him. "Aya didn't do anything wrong. I didn't do anything wrong. You, miraculously, didn't do anything wrong. This time. I live here. He lived here. And now you live here. You're part of the family now, and as much as I hate that, we're all just going to have to suck it up and learn to like each other. If you can't handle that, I suggest you work something out with Persia, because I will not have that kind of negativity in my home."

He was quiet.

"Fine." He said, not moving. Aya stood up, slowly and walked silently to the kitchen and started rummaging through the cupboards. After a few minutes the New Kid spoke up. "What are you looking for?"

"Advil." He snapped, pulling the bottle off its shelf.

"Why?"

"Because Tylenol isn't strong enough for this occasion." And he stormed off to our bedroom, closing the door slowly, but managing to slam it at the same time. Truly, the man is an artist of the subtle hissy fit. I walked to the door, and knocked on it lightly.

"Aya, can I come in?" A vaguely affirmative noise came from within and I eased myself into the room. He was sitting on our bed, looking at his hands and leaking his emo into the air around him. I sat next to him, and took his hands into mine. "I'm sorry about that," He looked at me, "I promise to try to like him. I know that-" He cut me off, pressing his mouth to mine.

We parted, resting our foreheads together, he gave a little smile. "I know."

You know what really sucks about pretending to be a college student at a prestigious academy? Pretending to be a student at a prestigious academy. Going to classes, sitting through lectures, doing homework, trying to look as through I deserve to be at this school, not seeing Aya for more than half hour long snippets, courtesy of our conflicting schedules, my school work, his marking and the time I had to spend with my shiny new 'college buddies'. I hated it, it drove me nuts. But a mission's a mission and I had to get my information. So I waited.

Thankfully, waiting for any leads did not take overly long. What I lack in academic skills I make up for in being adorable and this makes the girls very eager to tell me any and all gossip they have. This is good and bad. So they told me everything the knew about the supposed haunted gazebo. But after they ran out of ghost stories, they moved on to gossip about the girls in our class. And the teachers in the school. Granted, it was kind of interesting to hear their theories on Aya's personal life, but its only funny for the first hour.

But, that's neither here nor there, and their hint led Aya and I to the gazebo. At night. All by ourselves. Not as romantic as it sounds. We were their on a mission, and so Aya was all business. We poked and we prodded. But since I have the magic fingers, I found the secret passage. Yeah. Yeah.

But being a secret passage to some mystery underground base, Aya and I decided to return later, with reinforcements. Well, Yohji and the New Kid. But Yohji is a reinforcement, anyhow.

Alright. So then, we went to regroup. Which put us back at home. Just in time for dinner The New Kid was sitting at the counter, diligently working on his homework. Math, I think. He looked up at us as we entered, and tilted his head.

"Er. Hi." He said, tucking his heavily chewed on pencil behind his ear.

"Good evening Sena," Aya said, his voice nearly oozing pleasantry. "Ken, please hand me your mission coat so I can properly store them, and, if its not too much trouble, could you put together some dinner."

I shrugged off my jacket, and headed to the kitchen. Aya disappeared into the recesses of our room. New Kid returned to looking apprehensively at his notebook. I opened the refrigerator door and took a look.

"Hey New Kid," I called from the cave that is Ayas fridge. "Is there anything that you really like to eat? I'm open to suggestions."

"I like... er, that is..." The New Kid trailed off, I closed the door of the fridge and leaned over the counter. He didn't look at me, his eye fixed on an empty corner of his notebook. I waited, he cleared his throat. "I'm not picky. I'll eat whatever."

I shrugged and headed back to the fridge. Straight into the vegetable crisper. In true Aya form it was full of lettuce and beans. So, salad and beans it was. Well, salad, beans and fishsticks. I had hidden a box of them in the back of the freezer. Obsessive as Aya is, he's fairly laid back about what's going on in the freezer. This is where all of my stash is. Fishsticks, popsicles and, of course, poptarts. I'm a man of simple pleasures.

So. Dinner got itself cooked, and was displayed on plates in a way that I believed was ascetically pleasing. I slide a plate over to the New Kid and put a place next to him for Aya. I then settled across from him. We ate in silence. Aya reentered and settled in front of his plate.

"Ken," He groaned, "We're having fishsticks again?"

"You know what happens when you make me cook." I said, "And if you don't want your fishsticks, I will volunteer my digestive tract to take care of them."

Aya sighed, picked up a fishstick, looked at it with no little amount of distaste, complete with that little nose wrinkle that is just so adorable and put it in his mouth. He took a hearty bite.

"Not as bad as last time." He said finally, gingerly putting two of his remaining fishsticks on my plate.

It didn't take long for us to regroup and head back to the so-called 'haunted' gazebo. A bit of somersaulting and preparing to fight revealed nothing, the damn place had been cleared out. So much for my great lead.

Aya didn't talk to me on the way home.


	3. Fight, Rinse, Repeat

note: this continues to be dedicated to my girlfriend, in all of her infinate patience for letting my transcribe that gazebo scene. And then not killing me when i decided to edit it a bit.

Aya was grumpy. I had no idea exactly what had crawled up his ass and died, but he started ignoring the New Kid and I in such a specific and pointed way that the two of us almost started to bond. Or at least I stopped hating him. I still called him new Kid though. But long story short, Aya was inexplicably mad.

And so we were summoned for another meeting, I walked.

In the mission room, Aya was leaning against his regular pillar, encompassed by shadows. Deep, dark, gloomy, brooding Aya. I tried to give him a look, whether or not he caught it... I have no idea.

I sat on the couch, waiting. I was not disappointed, the screen flickered on and the distorted voice of Omi, oh no, forgive me, the distorted voice of Persia filled the room. I tried not to filter him out, I don't know what it is, but whenever he does the big deep Darth Vader voice distortion my mind just wanders. But from the way Aya had been acting I wouldn't be able to mooch a summary from him tonight.

"And so, I am terminating all investigations at Kowa Academy. All agents need to remove themselves from he Academy." Persia said in a conclusive sort of voice.

"What?" I cried, jolting out of my quasi-concentrating state.

"No!" Aya said, shortly after me, surprisingly all of us. We turned to look at him as one. "I'm not leaving. Not yet, we still have work to do at Kowa."

"Abyssinian, we are done at Kowa Academy." Persia replied.

"You might be. I'm not."

And he stood and stormed up the stairs. New Kid winced as the door slammed behind him. I tried to pat him comfortingly, but he flinched. Huh. I shrugged to myself, New Kid's issues were something I would deal with after I figured out what Aya's problem was.

"Okay, Aya, what the hell was that?"

He looked up at me, head jerking upwards sharply as I slammed the door behind me. He was sitting at the counter, marking. Essays covered the counter, each with little neatly written notes in red pen and a mark on top.

He was glaring. At me.

"What?" I asked, "I think I have a right to know, you know?"

"Its nothing, Ken." He grumbled. He wouldn't meet my eye.

"It's not nothing. You stormed out of a meeting. You don't storm out of meetings. I don't understand, what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong."

"But it's-"

"Nothing." He repeated.

"Oh come on Aya," I pleaded, "I thought we were past this."

He didn't say anything. He simply stood up and walked across the room, he opened the door to our bedroom and closed it, quietly. With a thunk the deadbolt hit home. I wasn't done talking to him, but I'm too old to shout at him through a locked door. I went to the spare room and knocked on the door. The New Kid opened it, rubbing at his eye. He looked sleepy.

"What's up?" He mumbled, squinting at me. I tried to smile, like there hadn't been something of a domestic dispute a minute ago. I probably failed. If the look on his face was anything to go by. "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing," I said casually, smacking myself internally. "Well, something, but I don't want to trouble you with it. I'm just here for the spare bedding, I'm bunking in the front room."

"Oh." he said, letting me into the room. I went to the box labeled 'soccer/guest', which was on top of three other boxes with soccer in the label, and I pulled out a couple of quilts and the ridiculously awesome soccer ball shaped pillow.

"Good night newbie. Have a good sleep. I guess we still have school tomorrow."

"Good night Ken."

So we stayed at Kowa, my grades began a steady downward spiral, Aya continued to not talk to me. I kept sleeping in the front room. Things at home got tense.

After a couple days of this bullshit I decided that I really, really needed to talk to Aya. This was ridiculous. This was stupid. This is crap I would have put up with back in the old days, but I was beyond this, I, at least, had learned to use my words.

So I snuck into the staff room in the high school and I waited. Aya would know I was there, and he would wait for everyone else to leave before addressing me. So I waited.

I listened to Aya get asked out by that chick teacher who totally has a thing for him. And I heard him accept the invitation. I would kick his ass about this later, in a friendly way.

"You can come out now." He said. I poked my head out from behind the corner.

"Hey sweetie," I said, grinning. He did not smile back.

"What do you want?" He asked, turning to his desk and fiddling with some papers. Into his briefcase, out of the briefcase.

"We need to talk." I said, heading for the door. "Be in the gazebo in twenty minutes."

And I left before he could argue.

He didn't disappoint me. Exactly twenty minutes later, to the second Aya appeared out of nowhere and stood before me. I leaned against the railing. We were quiet for a moment.

"There's no way we can continue to spit in Takatori's face and get away with it." I said, glancing at him. He had turned around, and was looking at the pond, watching it sparkle in the night. "They're probably planning to use Takatori's other weapon, their destruction specialists, the Crushers to take us out."

Aya said nothing.

"Of course, we'll totally kick their butts." I supplied.

"What do you want?" Aya said, like he hadn't heard me.

"You're not much of a conversationalist," I complained, he didn't acknowledge me. "Alright then, I guess I'll cut to the chase." I paused, wondering how to word this. "Why did you disobey Persia?"

"Simple." He replied, still turned towards the pond. I was ready for his reasoning. "For the same reason you chose to stay."

What the hell did that mean?

"Yeah, ok, I think I know what you mean." I lied. "But I want to hear it from you. Why did you disobey Persia's orders to withdraw from this academy and drop the investigation?"

Aya turned, and gave me a look. He was onto me. He knew I had no idea what his reasoning was. His eyes narrowed, he turned back to the pond.

"The enemy knows my true identity," he said, "You should avoid me."

He started to leave, I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back to me.

"Hey!" I cried, "I'm not finished yet!"

"Let. Me. Go." He growled.

"No. Not yet." I said, but I did let him go, knowing, trusting that he wouldn't storm off. Not just yet. "You're afraid to say it. Because if you do you won't be able to take it back. Should I say it for you?" I goaded, his shoulders stiffened, "The reason you disobeyed Persia? Well...?"

He moved like lightening, aiming a punch for my face, I caught his fist.

"You want out." I said. "You're plannin to leave Weiss."

"I'm not sure," He admitted, "Not yet."

I started to smile, ready to tell him that we should go home, that everything would be okay.

Pain. It blossomed in my stomach and went shooting up my chest and down my legs. I slid to the ground. Aya punched me. He turned and headed down the stairs. Back towards the school.

"Aya, you bastard!" I shouted at his retreating form, "It's the truth! We can continue to be Weiss. We can continue to be true Weiss, not just Takatori's puppets." Realization began to blossom in my pain addled brain. "That's why you're going to walk away, it's it? I'll do it too! I'm with you, man. I'll quit. Let's do it. What'd you think, Aya?"

He didn't respond verbally, but he stopped walking.

"Come on," I pleaded, "Don't just go."

He came back, stood before the gazebo where I had pried myself up.

"I think you should stop by the aprtment and pick up some of your stuff." He said, looking everywhere except at me. "I need to concentrate. I'd like to complete a mission properly for once."

That stung.

"Oh well, I'm sorry!" I said, now fully upright, I pushed forward to him, got right in his face. "I forgot that I ruin everything I touch. I forgot that I'm just a big screw up."

With that I pushed past him and stormed up the grounds, I didn't even know where I was going until Yohji opened his door and blinked blearily at me.

"Yohji," I said in a small voice, "I'm a big screw up."

"Now Ken-Ken," He said, leaning against his door, "Who told you that?"

"...I did."

Yohji raised an eyebrow.

"Aya and I may have had a fight." I admitted.

He sighed.

"You'd better come in and tell me the whole story."


End file.
